Government

And then there were seven.
The Republican field of candidates for the 5th District congressional seat grew yet again Tuesday to include former businesswoman and volunteer Penry Gustafson of Camden.

Gustafson, 46, is a former sales representative for Delta Foremost Chemical Corp., a longtime Kershaw County GOP member and a community volunteer for such local and regional organizations as Meals on Wheels and Operation Inasmuch.
Gustafson said she was running as an alternative to “today’s toxic political environment.”

Mayor John Howard and city council member Tamara Green Garris tangled this week over the city staff’s recommendation that certain information technology employees receive pay raises.
Howard called Garris’ questions about the raises “petty jealousy surrounding a mid-year budget review,” saying “it’s damn ridiculous. Pardon my language.”
Garris shot back: “Excuse me, do not curse at me. I didn’t make that motion,” to which Howard replied, “I did not curse at you.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Now sworn in as the new director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Mick Mulvaney said he is happy that the confirmation process is over.
“I am absolutely ecstatic…the longest eight weeks of my life,” Mulvaney said during a phone interview Friday afternoon. “The wait was particularly tedious.”
Mulvaney quickly resigned the Fifth Congressional District seat on Thursday after he was confirmed by the Senate as OMB chief.
Leaving the U.S. House of Representatives, he said, was tough.

WASHINGTON – Mick Mulvaney was scheduled to be sworn in Thursday evening as White House budget director, putting him in the pivotal role as the Trump administration formulates its first spending plans.
The U.S. Senate confirmed the Indian Land Republican’s nomination on a 51-49 vote Thursday morning, and Gov. Henry McMaster accepted Mulvaney’s resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives just after noon.

COLUMBIA – A bill that raises the state’s 16-cents-per-gallon gas tax to 26 cents over five years passed the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday and is now headed to the House floor.
If passed, the gas-tax hike, along with several other proposed fees, eventually would generate an additional $600 million a year to address the state’s deteriorated roads and bridges.

State Rep. Tommy Pope on Monday joined the crowded GOP field lining up to run for Mick Mulvaney’s U.S. House seat if he vacates it to become White House budget director.
As the House speaker pro tem, Pope is the highest-profile candidate to announce for the seat. He had previously stated his intention to run for governor in 2018, but President Trump’s election and his selection of Mulvaney have changed those plans.

The line of Republicans officially interested in taking over Mick Mulvaney’s 5th District congressional seat is now up to four.
Tom Mullikin, a Republican lawyer from Camden, announced Wednesday that he will run for the seat if Mulvaney is confirmed as White House budget director.
“I support President Trump’s focus on strengthening America and want to be a part of his team in Congress,” Mullikin said.

WASHINGTON – On party-line votes, two U.S. Senate committees on Thursday approved the nomination of Rep. Mick Mulvaney as White House budget director.
The Budget Committee voted 12-11 for the Indian Land Republican, and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved 8-7. Next the full Senate will vote on the nomination, perhaps early next week.

Attorneys for Jackie Harris and Linda Blackmon argued their cases in court Thursday but presented no witness testimony, and the judge said he would issue his ruling early next week in their disputed Lancaster City Council race.
“The law wants a quick decision on elections, because things have to keep moving and governments have to operate,” said Circuit Judge Brian Gibbons.

Tension over the election dispute between Jackie Harris and Linda Blackmon wasn’t confined to the courtroom this week.
It bubbled over in Tuesday night’s city council meeting, with testy exchanges involving Councilwoman Tamara Green Garris, Mayor John Howard and Councilwoman Hazel Taylor.
The meeting was the council’s first since Harris was restored to her District 3 council seat while her protest of Blackmon’s Nov. 8 election victory is adjudicated in Lancaster General Sessions Court.